My father is looking to install the Ford-approved after-market trunk-mounted 6-cd-changer in his 1998 Ford Taurus SE station wagon. He asked me to find information on the internet for him with regards to installation, etc.
He already has the car and the cd changer, but he wants to know about putting them together.
Here’s what I would do, basically:
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Rip out the old radio/tape player. Your going to need room to put the new one in.
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Shove the cd-player into the dashboard (preferably where you took out the older unit).
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Hi, Opal!
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Connect all the appropriate wires to all the appropriate places and make sure it faces the right way. The side with the buttons and display goes on the outside. If you did that right, the back-side will automatically insert itself on the inside without any effort on your part.
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Make sure it is secured by using all the right cd-player securing tools (and using them in the right order).
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Then press the power-inducing button to activate it.
I hope this was helpful.
Ford approved? What does that mean? I used to fix those damned things all the time, and installed quite a few. Pretty much the only requirement is that there is enough space in the trunk or under the seat for the changer. I don’t know why you’d need to get the approval of a mediocre x-president.
If you mean that it needs to be compatible with Ford in-dash radios, the changer just needs to have an RF output that you can tune the radio to receive. Newer radios may have a DIN connectors specifically for connecting a CD changer but since I don’t know who Ford bought their radios from for their '98 Taurus line, I can only speculate.
Call your dealer & ask them who made the in dash radio, then call Pioneer or whoever made your changer & ask them if they have a kit that will let you marry the two together. Alpine is well known for making kits that let you match their changers with a wide variety of factory-installed radios.
On preview, I see Arthur has chimed in with some semi-helpful advice. I don’t think wolfstu wants to rip out his in-dash radio, s/he wants to find a awy to make the changer work with it.
Explanation of ‘Ford-approved’;
The car comes with a radio-cassette-etc. unit in the dash, which has the controls and software to operate a 6-CD changer. This device is purchased after-market and is installed in the trunk, in a place built into the car just for this purpose. But, how do we connect it? What’s involved?
Particularly, he wants to know if, to connect it to the factory-installed radio, we have to pull the radio out, or is there another way to get to the back if the radio?
We’re worried about going in behind the dash and messing around because of all the electronic bells and whistles that come with the SE Comfort Package model.
And Arthur…
Thanks, but, um… maybe not.
We tried that on the Cessna and it didn’t work (just kidding).
I just realized I didn’t really explain ‘Ford-approved’:
This CD-changer is the one that is supposed to go in the special spot in the trunk, and that matches up with the fancy radio, and that is mentioned in the Owner’s Manual.
Sorry.
trunk-mounted 6-cd-changer
not
truck-mounted 6-cd-changer
Yeah, it sounded awkward to me when I read it as ‘truck’… but I didn’t question it. Sorry.
…we don’t need roads… er, or CD changers, at least.
My son was recently given a 1998 Ford Taurus CLI, with the “NO DJ” feature connected to the apparently useless ‘CD’ button in its huge egg-shaped stereo “cassette player” (whatever that was) faceplate. As a result I, too, am trying to find exactly how to activate this archaic function since I believe, albeit without any logical support, that the device might in fact playback ‘music’ from CompactDisc™ laser-read storage media; but – as is typical with FoMoCo Dynasty artifacts – there seems to be scant hieroglyphical instructions to assist in my quest to return this “CD” to working status…
I suppose I’ll have to hop back in the DeLorean (fantastic cars, btw) and go Back In Time © to 1998 and beat the living *&%! out of a Ford design committee member or three, and compel them to add an iPod™ port, so my son can listen to thousands of ‘musical’ titles in digital quality, rather than only analog ‘radio stations’ (advertising streams with ‘music’ sprinkled in). You’ll understand what that all means in about 5 years…
You can go back to having fun in 2001, now. Enjoy it while you can. Things will never be the same after September: Avoid vacationing in NYC. That’s all I can say without changing the Future/Past/Present to an irreparable degree. I mean, I invented Chuck Berry, ferchrissakes! What was I thinking!
OP: I know what you’re talking about. For those who don’t: Some Ford Tauruses (and Mercury Sables) from at least part of the 1990’s-2000’s come with a radio/cassette player installed that has controls for a 6-CD changer—it looks like this—but the changer itself is sold separately (and is generally installed in the trunk, though the OP mentions having a station wagon). This looks like an example of the CD changer the OP is talking about.
Unfortunately, googling did not turn up much in the way of instructions in how to install it. The closest thing I could find to a diagram showing how or where to install it was this, which isn’t particularly helpful.
There are Ford sites and forums out there, where you might try asking your question (though my googling suggests that some people already have, without getting a satisfactory response), or, if all else fails, talk to a Ford dealer.
Hey Thudlow! Check the date on the OP. Then look at the post just above yours. Zombie thread! Revived intentionally by a joker. A reasonably amusing one, for a change, but a joker all the same.
:smack: Stoopid zombie.
I wonder if wolfstu’s father ever got his CD changer installed.
oh ffs, zombies.
You could PM and ask. I just checked the OP’s profile. Last activity yesterday. Still an active member. Let’s all have a BBQ featuring the n00b, docbrown’s brain! Mmmm, brains, I love them. Tasty!
I just PM’ed the OP for you. Let’s see what happens. 
I seem to remember the radio and changer were made by Sanyo. A relationship exists Ford-Mazda-Sanyo where Sanyo provided OEM radios and changers.
The CD Player that you may have and want to install to be operated by the indash controller is attached by one cable with a PIN connector on each end of the cable. I do not know if Ford preinstalled the cable in all cars. I doubt it.
I would suspect that if you do not have the cable you could try Ford or Sanyo Parts.
All one would have to do is to look on the back or side of the Indash radio controller and determine if a Pin plug in exists. I think the plug in has 8 or 10 pins. You can look at the CD changer and then look at the Indash Radio controller if they match all you need to do is somehow find the cable. Good Luck
I wonder if the car is still running…
In '98 the radios were made by Visteon and the changers came from Clarion. At least for the Taurus.
Thanks for the PM, Cheshire Human.
So indeed, the 6-CD changer was installed shortly after I started this thread. We had to supply a cable that ran the length of the car to a compartment in the bulkhead at the back, just ahead of the rear liftgate, where the CD changer was installed. I’m not sure where we eventually got the details, but it all worked out.
I don’t know if the car is still running; my father sold it a few years ago. For those just dying to know, here’s a photo of that very vehicle taken in April of 2006, just over five years after I started this thread. And the view over the dash. Sadly, I don’t have any photos on hand of the CD changer.
Thanks everyone for the belated advice 